Answers to Your Questions about Gate Guarding

Answers to your questions about Gate Guarding…

We really appreciate your engagement with our posts! We received numerous questions about this gig. Our answers are below. We’ve also added a few photos with some photo captions. Enjoy!!!

1) How do we dump our tanks? Since we are in the middle of a privately owned ranch, we don’t have access to typical utilities like water, sewer, and electricity. The gate security company that we work for provides a flatbed trailer with a diesel generator, a 500-gallon water tank, and a 300-gallon sewage tank. They also provide a macerator tank and pump to macerate our sewage and pump it into the 300-gallon holding tank. The support team comes out to the site every Monday to dump the sewage tank and replenish us with non-potable water and diesel for the generator.

2) What do we do for drinking water? The 500-gallon tank holds clean water for the sinks and showers, but it isn’t drinkable. So, we bought three of the 5-gallon Prime jugs and a top pump. As we empty a jug, we can get it refilled with filtered water for like $3 per jug at many major retailers.

3) How far are we from a grocery store? The nearest major grocery store, like HEB or Walmart, is a 45-minute drive into Pleasanton, Texas. We can get to a Dollar General in about 30 minutes if we need something sooner than a regular monthly shipping trip.

4) Are we close to anything where we can escape to on the weekends? We are the only guards at this gate. The gate needs 24/7 coverage. We can’t go anywhere together. One of us must always be on duty.

5) How long do the non-potable water and diesel for the generator last? The non-potable water gets replenished every Monday. We have at least 1/3 of a tank still left when it gets refilled. The diesel for the generator, which runs nonstop 24/7, gets replenished every Monday and Thursday.

6) What are our shifts? Ken – Midnight to 9am. Chris 3pm-midnight. Both of us – 9am-3pm. It is during the 9a-3p time that we would run to do errands, grocery shop, do laundry, etc. Some days Chris will sleep in, past 9am, and most days Ken will go to bed before 3pm!! Haha!

7) Is anyone else nearby? No…the drilling rig is about 3/4 of a mile away from the gate entrance where we are, and the next closest humans would be the rancher and his family, who are about 2/3 of a mile away, down a different road. Though we can see both the rancher’s property and the drilling rig from our RV.

8) How long will we be doing this job? Great question!! Jobs like this can last a few days or a few months. It all depends on the success of the drilling operation and what type of operation it is (oil drilling or fracking). This site has three holes to drill, so we hope to be here for a few weeks or longer, but we really don’t have any idea. We could receive a call at 3pm telling us that we are done at 6:00pm. Please keep us in your prayers for some continuity of work!

9) Have we watched “Landman”? Yes. But not until last week, when we binge-watched season one. We typically don’t “subscribe” to TV. Much of the storyline for Landman from the oil drilling perspective, and the rig video shown in the show, is accurate. On a rig site, though, we would never actually encounter the “Landman” himself. We deal with four different “Company Men” who are the onsite managers for the entire drilling operation. They stay on-site and work 12-hour shifts, two weeks on and two weeks off. Like us, one of the “company men” is on duty at all times. Also, No…The cartel is not a thing in this area.

10) Do we have internet? Yes! Because of this job, we bit the bullet and bought Starlink with its monthly roaming package. It has been wonderful.

11) Have we experienced a Texas wind storm? Yes!!! But not here! Here we have decent protection from several Mesquite Trees, ground shrubs, and cacti. So far, the highest the winds have gotten here are 30mph. However, when we were in the Texas panhandle, last winter, in Silverton, TX, we had sustained winds of 70 and gusts to 90mph for two solid days!!! There, the only protection we had from the winds was the occasional tumbleweed that would roll past!

12) How are we holding up? Are we too desolate? Is it too quiet? We are doing very well, thank God! The sleeping schedule has taken some time to get used to, but other than that, we are doing well. We have lots of time to read, scroll through FB, learn/practice Spanish (Ken), knit, write letters, watch movies, etc! It’s not a job we would want forever, but for a few months at a time, it is great!

13) How did we get certified as gate guards? To work as a gate guard in the oil drilling industry in Texas, you have to be certified as a “Class II” security guard. We did the training and testing online. Once certified, we listed our certificates with several gate guarding companies. Then you let them know when you are available for employment. Then you sit and wait for the call. The online training takes about 15-20 hours. We are “Class II” guards, meaning we are unarmed. Kind of like Paul Blart, but without the Segway!! Haha!

14) We cannot have 13 questions! That is unlucky, and at least one us us is superstitious. So… Why did we decide to “gate guard” at an oil field? Because we can! Why not? Life is short, and we don’t know our last day, so we may as well live every day to its fullest!! There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of different work-camping opportunities out there, just waiting to be experienced. We are doing as many as we can, one at a time!